F1 Academy: the season starts in Shanghai

It’s the F1 Academy’s third season and this will be the very first time it has visited the Shanghai International Circuit. All the teams and drivers arrived well in advance in order to take part in a three day pre-season test. This Friday, 18 cars will take to the track for the start of a championship that looks like being very closely contested.

Maya is all set. The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy is represented by Maya Weug and Aurelia Nobels, in their second season in the category. They both gained valuable experience last year, which will prove useful going into 2025. Maya won the final race of 2024 in Abu Dhabi, a show of strength that was a great morale booster while preparing for the new season. The Shanghai test session confirmed she is in good shape, as she was a front runner over the three days, having adapted well to the car run by MP Motorsport. “Testing went well although obviously that can only really be confirmed over a race weekend,” said Maya. “But I’m confident I can start the season with the right approach. We did a lot of laps (162) getting through all our planned programme.”

Aurelia aiming for the top-10. Last year was the 18 year old Brazilian’s first time racing in an international series, which was an invaluable experience. For a second consecutive year Aurelia will be racing in Puma colours with the ART Grand Prix team and she is aiming to finish consistently in the top ten, as indeed she did in the second half of last year. There are some new tracks on this year’s calendar, but that will present the same challenge for all the drivers. Apart from Shanghai, the other new venues are Montreal’s Gilles Villeneuve circuit and Las Vegas, while the other rounds take place in Jeddah, Miami, Zandvoort and Singapore.

Programme. The weekend action gets underway on Friday at 9.30 local (01.30 CET) with a 40 minute free practice session. Next is 30 minutes of qualifying at 14.05 (07.05 CET) with two points awarded for pole position in Race 2. The first race is on Saturday at 13.40 (06.40 CET) run with the top eight places on the grid reversed. Points are awarded only for the top eight, from 8 to 1, with an additional point for the fastest lap if set by a finisher in the top eight. Race 2, the main event, is on Sunday at 10.45 (03.45 CET) and for this, points are given out Formula 1-style from 25 to the winner, down to 1 for tenth place. Again, there’s a point for the fastest lap if set by a driver who finishes in the top ten.